Queen for a Day
by lillypilly11
Summary: Awakening AU. It's Helen who receives a fatal injury from the tomb's defence system, with Nikola increasingly desperate to save her.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is a rewrite of 'Awakening', basically what if Helen was shot by the energy beam instead of Nikola. A short wip, will probably be about four or so chapters long. Several lines of dialogue are taken straight from the episode - if you recognise it, it's not mine!_

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><p><strong>Queen for a Day<strong>

**part one  
><strong>

**...**

"Oh my god, look at this. It's the ancient script of the Sanguine Vampiris," Nikola said, as he eagerly forged ahead into the newly revealed chamber.

"_Vampires?_" Helen said, surprised, as she entered more cautiously behind him. "According to the map, this was a Praxian stronghold."

"Not any more." He was smiling, fairly breathless with wonder. "It says here that my ancestors drove them from this place, made it a fortress of their own."

An awful thought occurred to her then, and she spoke urgently. "Nikola, wait, if this was a vampire stronghold, they'd have fortifications. The vampire shield - take off your bracelet!" She pulled hers off and threw it aside, striding quickly towards him.

He was too slow in catching on. "Bracelet?" he scoffed, holding his arm aloft. "I prefer to think of it as -"

She was at his side then, reaching to grab the thing from his wrist, but even as she did she saw an ominous glow appear from a panel tucked high up on the back wall. She moved on pure instinct, shoving him down and throwing herself bodily after him in a desperate bid for cover. They hit the floor at the same moment the weapon fired. There was a flash of light and she cried out, feeling something lance through her like white-hot metal.

"Helen!" Nikola scrambled out from under her, confusion and alarm on his face. His hands fluttered uncertainly around her, trying to support her as she attempted to sit up.

With her last ounce of determination she grabbed his arm, wrenched the bracelet off him, and hurled it away. Only then did she curl in on herself, gasping from the pain. Behind them, the heavy stone door rumbled ominously shut, but the two of them had more pressing concerns.

"What was that?" Nikola demanded. "Some kind of energy beam? How - how bad is it?"

Crouched beside her, his hands covered hers where they were pressed to the wound, blood leaking between their fingers. "My god, Helen -" The beam had pierced through her abdomen, an inch or two below her ribs.

"It's all right," she ground out between clenched teeth.

"It clearly is not."

She looked up at him, his face hovering close, his eyes intent on hers. "My back," she said. "You need to apply pressure. Get the medkit - bandages."

His hand moved round her side, feeling for the mirror of the wound on her front. He pressed his palm hard against it, making her bite back a cry of pain. He didn't make a move for their abandoned pack, however, just closed his eyes, concentrating.

"What are you doing?"

"Generating a magnetic field to keep everything threatening to spill out all over the floor inside you where it belongs."

That gave her pause. "Oh."

She could feel the effects - the pain was the same, but the bleeding had all but stopped. Gingerly, she rested her weight back against the column behind her, trapping his hand between her and the stone.

She spoke again. "How long do you think you can -?"

"It's not hard. How long do you think _you_ can?"

"From the amount of blood loss, I'd say there's some fairly serious damage. Which means you'd be better off helping me with bandages, and then finding us a way out of here."

His expression was very serious, but he couldn't conceal the fear in his eyes. "But I can't - I -"

"Nikola."

"I didn't listen - you told me to take it off. I didn't, this is my fault."

"We came prepared for Praxians, not vampires, and we don't really have time for guilt in any case. Now bring the backpack over here."

She held his gaze, staring him down. Finally he let the field drop, his hands falling away from her, and he moved.

She had to talk him through patching her up. He was, of course, unused to providing first aid - for that matter, he was unused in general to taking care of anyone other than himself. But it wasn't exactly brain surgery, and he managed.

"No, tighter than that. As firmly as you can manage."

He rewound the bandage again, face tense in concentration.

"Better," she told him when he was done, and patted his hand in reassurance. "Now, hurry up and find us a way out of here."

He hesitated, reluctant to leave her side. His eyes travelled over her, as if trying to memorise her; as if he wouldn't see her again.

The thing was, she didn't really have time for him to be emotional about this.

"I'm going into shock," she told him. "I'll want to sleep - you can't let me do that. Make sure I stay awake and alert, and if I start to slip, there's epinephrine. Use sparingly. Do you know how to administer the shot?"

"I'm sure I can figure it out, thanks."

"If the padding soaks through, you'll need to replace it. Rip up your shirt if you have to. And give me your jacket - I need to try to stay warm."

He hastily shrugged off his jacket and tucked it over her. "Any other patronising advice to give me?"

"Stay calm, don't panic, and any mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is to wait until _after _I stop breathing."

"You should be so lucky."

They shared a smile, the attempt at humour a little weak on both sides, but cheering nonetheless. He got up, wavering a moment on what to do. He started at the sealed doorway, straining against it futilely as he tried to get it to budge.

"Of course, that's the thing about traps," he said in frustration as he quickly gave it up as useless. "What would be the use if we could just walk out?"

"They wouldn't build it without an exit of some kind," Helen reasoned, watching him pace. "There might be some clue in the writings."

"You're right. But there's a lot of writing. Vampires - a chatty bunch."

"Then hurry up and read."

He nodded once, features fixed in grim determination, and turned to the nearest column.

She watched him work, murmuring to himself as he thought aloud, sometimes reading out a line or two for her to hear. There was nothing for her to do but wait - something she'd never been particularly good at.

She wasn't about to give up. She would hold on as long as she could. But the truth was she wasn't sure she had the time - even if he found a way out soon, it was too far to any medical aid, her injury too severe. Barring some miracle...

"Take me home," she said.

"Yeah, I'm trying, if you didn't notice."

"No, after. My body - I want to be interred with Ashley."

His only response to that was his jaw tightening before he whirled away to the next column.

"Don't worry, the arrangements are all in my will. Just make sure I get home. Now, about the Sanctuary - promise me you'll help them. Will is young, but I always meant for it to be him, and he'll be a decent head of house. Until he becomes a good one, however, he'll need support."

"What on earth do you think I could do? In this scenario I've just gotten you killed, you realise. Not so sure I'll be welcome at the old homestead after that."

"Then don't give them a choice. I want you there. You're the last of the Five who can... Besides, I need you to handle John."

"Oh now we come to it - handle John when he comes to unleash bloody vengeance on me, you mean?" He was at her side again suddenly. She realised she'd stopped watching his progress through the room - her vision was blurring. Probably not a good sign. "You may have decided to die already, but I'm still aiming for a slightly more rosy outcome here. So if you're done telling me all the wonderful fun I'm going to have dealing with the various messes you've made of your life after you're gone...? Helen? Helen!"

She could feel his hands on her face, could tell he was shouting, but it seemed to be happening at some great distance.

Then suddenly the shock of pure adrenaline racing through her system like fire.

"Bloody hell!" She sat forward, gasping, clutching at her pounding chest. He'd used one of the epinephrine shots. Clearly.

"Don't do that!" Nikola snapped. "Come on, I expect better of you, Helen. You're the strong one, remember? My god, you had to come rushing in, didn't you. Had to be the hero - whatever happened to good old fashioned self-preservation? As if you even know what the term means."

"If I hadn't, you'd likely be dead already, or dying in my place."

"As it should be. I don't even particularly like my life; you shouldn't be giving yours for mine."

"Tough."

"Besides, you're not even dying - a little scratch like that? Just - buck-up or whatever you British do in situations like this. And would you let me, you know, work already? Stop trying to distract me with all this melodrama."

Still panting at the effects of the epinephrine, she watched him move away, starting over methodically from where he'd left off.

"You're in denial," she said.

"Interesting - it says here that the great Queen Afina was laid to rest in state... _here_. She's buried here somewhere. This is a tomb."

"Fitting. Nikola -"

"'The warrior-queen Afina and her court were laid to rest here in state to rise again in the after-time, to rule into eternity.' Strange, you know I've never encountered much reference to the beliefs of Sanguine Vampiris concerning an afterlife. They were a culture devoted to reason and science. Wonderful atheists, my people. But perhaps royalty gets a better deal."

"I know you think you won't be able to handle it, but you will. I know I can count on you. Reason and science - that's you to a T. That's why I trust you, even though you can be so..."

He was barely listening to her, if at all, so intently was he scouring the ancient script. But she needed him to listen. "Nikola." He didn't react. Her voice was weaker than it had been. "_Nikola_," she gasped again. Then she scrabbled in the medkit for another epinephrine shot. It was the last one. She hadn't much time left; she had to get through to him.

It was enough, the sudden jolt of vitality - she propelled herself up, employing what she knew literally to be the last of her strength. She staggered over to him. "Nikola."

He turned, shocked to find her on her feet. "You crazy woman are you trying to - what are you doing?"

"Dying. I'm _dying_, you idiot! Just listen will you?" His arms came up to catch her as she collapsed against him. Her momentum drove them both back into the wall behind him, and they barely registered the faint click of some mechanism being triggered by their combined weight as they fell against it.

The large section of wall suddenly falling away into the floor definitely caught their attention, however.

They both simply stared at the revealed chamber and its contents.

Nikola turned his wide-eyed expression on her, his face just inches from hers. "I think you found Afina."

The dead queen of the vampires was entombed in some kind of glowing crystal. "Fascinating," she said, and meant it. It was only a shame - such a find, and she would never learn much more about it than this. "They must have mastered crystal replication on an atomic level. Just think, we're the first people to see this tomb in thousands of years."

He shifted her weight off him and helped her to sit down. Then he left her there to approach the entombed queen.

"Look at her, perfectly preserved," he said, "Like an insect in amber."

"Lovely, yes. You can have all the time you like to study her later, but please, will you come back here?"

The adrenaline had left her, and the pain was much worse now. And she was so tired...

He didn't answer, busy staring at the queen.

It was a strange time to feel jealous but bloody hell what did a girl have to do to get a little attention around here? She almost laughed at the thought. Nothing had ever been able to compete with the glory of vampires in Nikola's eyes.

"Don't mind me," she mumbled. "I just thought you might hold my hand. It would be nice, that's all."

"No time for canoodling just now, Helen."

He was close again, though her eyes were closed, and she might not have been able to see his face even if they were open.

"Don't you see what this means? Listen!" He had hold of her shoulders and gave her a shake. Then he slapped her.

"Ow!" Her eyes opened and she glared at the blurry circle of his face hovering over hers. "Just let me die in peace will you?"

"It's source blood! If there's even an ounce of the stuff in that corpse - it's kept you alive this long, what's another century or two more?"

"Oh." She blinked, trying to clear her vision. "That's actually not a bad idea. Worth a try."

"Just stay awake. You stay awake - I will never forgive you if you die just when I come up with a brilliant plan to save you."

It was too much trouble to speak, so she didn't reply, just nodded to show she understood. And she could do it, stay awake, it was nice to have a goal other than 'lie down and die'. But gradually the details began to escape her. Nikola's increasingly frantic attempts to get through the crystal went on in the background, and she was finding it difficult to care.

At some point, sitting became lying down.

When Nikola appeared in her line of vision, his lips moving - he seemed to be saying something very urgently, but she couldn't hear a thing - she smiled, or thought she did, and would have lifted a hand to touch his face.

But her body was so heavy, and she was drifting further and further away.

.

.

She did not drift easily back into consciousness; she was torn from oblivion and hurled back into the world with a gasp wrenched violently from throat. She sat bolt upright, crying out hoarsely as _something_ took hold of her, raced through her veins, _changed_ her - something that felt almost familiar. But her mind was alight with this new sensation and in the first few, confused moments she couldn't identify it. Couldn't be sure of anything, really, except that she was suddenly and most unexpectedly alive.

And that something was very, very different.

She realised Nikola was beside her then. "What is this?" she gasped. "What's happening?"

"Wow... I... honestly didn't think that would work," he said.

They stared at each other in mutual shock. But where hers only persisted, Nikola's face was quickly transformed into a grin of pure delight.

"Wait, the blood," she remembered suddenly. "So it worked?"

She reached over to grab him and perhaps shake the answers out of him, and in doing so registered that she was not only alive, but strong, and _whole_. She let go of his shirt to tear away the bandages wrapped around her middle, finding the blood-soaked gash in her shirt and beneath it only smooth, unmarred skin.

"The blood," Nikola began. "About that. Well, it didn't exactly preserve your life. Actually, I was too late administering it. You sort of... died. Technically. And then when I used what was left of the stunner's juice to shock your heart - well, actually that worked _really_ well. I'm thinking you're just inhuman enough for the vampire genes to activate without entirely taking over and creating a mindless, bloodthirsty monster. Been there, done that, not as much fun as you think it's going to be. Of course, the source blood is already bonded to your DNA from the first go round, I suppose that might make up for your lack of a hereditary connection. Anyway, the point is, you seem to be a vampire now, and you're fine. I mean, you certainly look fine. Not that you don't normally, but, may I say, this is a great look for you."

She was still in the process of catching up, barely hearing the majority of Nikola's babbling and focusing only on what seemed to be the most pertinent fact.

"You turned me into a _vampire_?"

He spread his hands. "With only the very best of intentions."

She had more to say to him about this, much more. Most of it would involve yelling. But before she could begin there was a sound suddenly from behind them, and they both turned their heads to look.

The crystal was starting to crack.

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><p><strong>...<strong>

_Endnotes: How did Nikola break through the crystal? Science! Magnets! Something like that. Or he just bashed the crap out of it like a certain someone else we know. Also, apologies for the sciencey nonsense about how Helen became a vampire - I'm still not sure how it's supposed to work on the show (it seems to change every time!) and I figure vampire-queen blood is just magic and Helen is so special it just worked, that's all. :D_

_Next chapter - Afina is just not that into Nikola, Helen is the worst vampire ever, Nikola hates everything, and someone gets thrown in the pit._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Good grief, I thought this chapter would never end. At least it's a bit more fun than the first part, which was rather dramatic what with Helen dying and all. Again, quite a few lines are lifted straight from the episode, and definitely do not belong to me. Enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Queen for a Day<strong>

**part two**

**...**

As it turned out, the imminent disintegration of the tomb of the ancient queen was a blessing. For Nikola, it meant the no-doubt loud, angry reaction sure to be unleashed upon him after Helen learned about the whole vampire thing was, if only for the time being, curtailed.

"What did you do to it?" Helen said. They were back on their feet, and she was eyeing the damage done to the crystal while she had been, for the most part, unconscious.

Nikola shrugged. "Only what I had to. Well, don't look at me like that, I was a little motivated, all right?"

"I suppose I can't be too judgemental. I'd be dead otherwise," she said absently.

As Nikola watched, she wandered back down the steps away from the crystal - the crystal that cracked and groaned unhappily behind her. She didn't even seem to notice. It was the change. It would probably take her a little time to get used to it.

"Helen? How do you feel? I know this must be a little... weird for you."

"Yes, thanks," her clipped reply came without turning around, "Do you think I could have a minute here? I'm not exactly - I mean I feel like -"

"Hungry, perhaps?" he guessed.

She glanced over at that. "Oh, let's not go there."

"I remember that newly-vamped feeling. Good times."

"I remember a rather different version of the story."

"Oh, but yours will be so different." He moved towards her and took her hands in his. "Think of all we know now that we didn't then. I can guide you through this difficult time and -"

"Stop!" She pulled away from him. "Nikola, stop this. I can't be a vampire, don't be ridiculous."

"Oh, sure you can. Don't knock it till you've tried it. As soon as I get another sample from our lovely, incredibly helpful friend over there, I'll join you, and we can do it together. We could start a whole new era of vampire-kind. Think of the possibilities!"

As if in punctuation of his words there was another, more ominous crack from the crystal.

"Speaking of samples." He crossed to the site of Helen's resurrection, quickly finding the syringe he'd used to administer the blood to her in those terrible moments of uncertainty. When he hadn't known if... But no, Helen was fine - more than fine.

And soon, he would be, too.

"What are you doing?" she said as he took the steps back up to the platform where the vampire was entombed in such a stately manner.

He waved the syringe over his shoulder. "Sample number two."

He leaned over to insert the syringe through the fissure in the crystal again, only to be yanked away. "That thing is coming apart - it could shatter at any second, it's hardly safe to be sticking your face up against it."

"This protective thing you're doing today is charming, but I'll take the risk," he said, shaking off her hold. "The body might be damaged in the meantime, and I am not losing this chance."

Another loud crack came as they argued, followed by a series of smaller ones that quickly spread to cover the entire surface of the crystal casing.

They watched this warily, and then she turned on him again. "Why would you want this?" she demanded. "You've been doing so well."

"How can you even ask that? It's like you don't even know me."

"Oh I know you, all right. You are an insufferable egotist, but do you know something? I rather like this Nikola - the man, not the vampire."

"This isn't me, Helen! You may _like_ me neutered, but that isn't enough, I'm sorry. Even if it means losing your good favour. And, you know, maybe once you get used to it you'll start to see the positives in all this. It took me a while in the beginning, too, but as you can see, once you go vamp..."

"You've not been listening. Again. I cannot go back like this. I can't be a vampire - the other Sanctuary heads would never accept it."

"You know, I always knew there was prejudice against my kind, but from you, Helen, this cuts to the quick."

"You are not a vampire any more you lunatic!"

"I am in my soul! And you, meanwhile, what a disappointment you're turning out to be! Such a beautiful gift - but no, I suppose I should have just let you die!"

Standing around screaming at each other had perhaps not been the best use of their time.

Nikola reached this conclusion as the crystal stopped its groaning and cracking, and all of a sudden seemed to burst open, crumbling into a thousand fragments which cascaded to the floor and scattered around their feet.

"Oh," Helen said. "Dear lord."

"My god," he breathed. "She's alive."

He'd been so focused on himself he'd hardly given a thought to the dead queen in the tomb - now clearly not so dead at all.

"It must have been some sort of stasis chamber," Helen said.

They stared as the woman - the incredibly attractive woman - stood frozen for a long moment. But there were changes - colour and warmth were returning to her skin, her chest rose and fell slowly once, and then again.

"Uh," Helen said under her breath, "It occurs to me that we are hardly prepared to deal with a full-blood vampire."

"We're the two people most prepared in the world. You're a vampire, and I'm - a vampire on a break."

"And when this _real_ vampire decides she'd like to enslave everyone, as she's likely in the habit of doing?"

He gaped at her. "Please try to keep your bigotry to yourself. Do not embarrass me in front of the nice vampire queen, Helen."

"Oh, for heaven's sake."

Before he could chastise her on her atrocious attitude any further, the vampire in question took a deeper breath than before, and opened her eyes.

He moved forward to assist her, and Helen, remembering her manners, did the same. They took her arms and helped her down from the dais, and over to sit on a low wall.

She didn't seem to respond to their words of assurance, her ancient eyes taking them in warily. He thought there might be a language barrier problem, and was about to break out his Sanguine Vampiris - which, although he was proficient in the written language, he'd hardly had much practice speaking it.

But then Afina took care of that herself. Her penetrating gaze locked on Helen's mid-section, where Helen had bled out all over her clothes just a few minutes ago. At first he thought she was reaching out in concern, as Helen uncertainly allowed the queen to lightly touch her torn shirt. But then Afina drew her stained finger to her mouth.

And she spoke. "This is from you, your blood," Afina said. "Helen."

He gasped. "What did I tell you? The most brilliant, elegant race in history. They solved the babel problem by embedding communications in blood." The implications of such an ability were incredible.

"It's remarkable," Helen agreed, then bent over to address Afina. "You've been asleep for a very long time. How are you feeling?"

"I was in stasis, not asleep. No need to patronise me."

Helen straightened. "Noted."

It was always going to be a little complicated, catching an ancient vampire up on eons of history, the obliteration of their entire race, not to mention explaining the matter of how Helen was a half-vampire and he was a former half-vampire with dreams of reinstatement. But that apart from the two - now three - of them, vampires were out and humans were in.

"There's been a shift in power," Helen concluded rather crudely.

"And our beautiful cities? All that we built?"

He winced. "Yeah, it's... all a little different than what you remember."

Afina faltered, the news too much for her, and Nikola caught her arms to steady her.

"Thank you," she said, her eyes resting on him as if seeing him for the first time. She'd been a little more focused on Helen so far, which stung, even if he could understand it. They were, after all, currently the only two living vampires on earth.

For now.

_He_ on the other hand, currently had two living sources of vampire DNA standing before him. He wasn't going to be rude and bring it up right now, but the thought was certainly there. He'd waited this long to reclaim his true nature; he could wait just a little longer.

After the initial shock, Afina actually seemed to take the news of the downfall of her entire civilisation in stride.

She casually filled them in about the war with the Praxians, how they had fled to Hollow Earth, and the vampires had happily taken over in their absence. He'd always known bits and pieces of his people's history, from scattered remnants of legends and archaeological finds, but the chance to hear it from one who had lived it... it was beyond his wildest dreams.

When she explained why she had been put in stasis in the first place, it only solidified for him that here was a chance to learn of his legacy from a true example of greatness.

"When everyone in the royal family is immortal it's hard to pass on the throne. My ancestors kept trying to kill each other; we had to find a better way."

"You took turns ruling. Just so evolved..."

"I left my brother Kalmen in charge. He was supposed to revive me."

"But that never happened," Helen said.

He was glad to be able to provide information on this. "No, I've heard of Kalmen, and the legends say that he ruled for over a thousand years before he was assassinated by his youngest son. Which means that he left you in there to rot, while he kept his kingdom to himself."

He was indignant on her behalf, but Afina just smiled at him. "But look who's still around," she said. "The three of us, not him. He can keep the past. We'll take the future."

"Yes," he said, gazing into her eyes.

Helen interrupted the moment. If he didn't know any better, he'd swear she was jealous. "None of us will have very much of a future if we don't get out of here. Afina, can you tell us how to reopen the door that locked us in here?"

"The security system was designed to protect me from my enemies. Anyone who broke in would be killed instantly and then sealed in here with me. How did you set it off, if you have vampire blood?"

"Well that's a story for another time," Helen covered awkwardly. "The question is how do we get out of here now?"

Afina gestured lazily. "There's an escape hatch behind that wall. A human wouldn't be able to shift the weight, but one of us could. If you have the strength - I'm afraid I don't. I need to feed."

Helen frowned. It seemed to take her a moment to realise that feats of super-strength were in her arsenal now. "Oh, right," she said, belatedly moving towards the indicated section of wall.

She was hesitant and he ushered her closer. "Don't think, just do it. You're stronger than you know - isn't it wonderful?"

The look she shot him was difficult to interpret. But she approached the wall, set her hands against it and shoved, stepping back in surprise when a large section slid backwards. "Huh," she said, looking down at her hands.

Nikola had to roll his eyes. "Newbies."

"Well done," Afina said, unswayed by Helen's inability to even pretend to be a half-decent sort of vampire. "That corridor leads to another part of the cavern. Only my most trusted servants knew of it. And now the two of you. But Helen," she continued, "You're hungry, too. I can see it in your eyes."

Helen was taken aback by the observation. "Oh. Well, I..."

"So why don't you feed? Isn't that what you keep him around for?"

Well, that was a little insulting.

Helen's eyes widened, and she looked at Nikola askance. "Him? Good lord, no. We don't use humans for food."

Afina's lips began to curl in contempt. He jumped in to explain. "We've devised a regimen of nutrients and animal plasma which gives you everything you need. But I'm afraid we'll have to wait until we get to the surface to arrange that."

Afina looked at Helen in disdain. "Animal plasma? That's what you eat?"

"Well it's not as bad as it sounds," Nikola muttered.

"It sounds terrible."

"Well there is a local antelope that I used to be quite fond of..."

"Nikola," Helen chastised, before rounding confrontationally on the queen. "We do not feed on humans. I'm sorry that's not what you're used to, but things are different now. Slavery of any kind is abhorrent to us."

"Well, what a lovely little modern world you have made for yourselves. Where vampires live on scraps and humans think themselves worthy inheritors of this world."

All right, things were becoming a little tense. He could see Helen was about to say something even more upsetting and he hastily jumped in. "Don't worry, we'll figure everything out later, with the diet and everything," he assured Afina. Then he grabbed Helen by the arm. "Could you excuse us for a minute?" he said over his shoulder as he towed her away.

"You know, you could be a little more polite," he said once they'd gained some space. "She's going through a type of culture shock you or I couldn't possibly understand. I can't believe you're not more compassionate."

"And I can't believe you're trusting this woman implicitly. Has it not occurred to you that she's working her own agenda? And now you just want to follow her blindly? We've no idea where that tunnel even leads. I don't feel safe letting her go first, and I certainly don't feel safe leaving her behind."

"You have a Sasquatch for a butler, and you travel the world with history's most notorious murderer and _now_ you don't feel safe? Helen, green is not a good colour on you."

"Don't be ridiculous."

He'd only suspected before, but now he was sure of it. Definitely jealous. "She's intelligent, powerful, remarkably well-preserved for her age - everything I look for in a woman. And unlike someone I know, she actually appreciates what we are - who I _am_. "

"I'm not engaging in this childish conversation."

"The more you deny it, the truer it is."

"Well that's an excellent scientific method." She grabbed his arms for emphasis. "Really, _really__,_ good."

"I can hear you, you know." They both started a little in surprise as Afina appeared suddenly beside them. "Vampire. Remember? Helen, I'm disappointed. You don't trust me?"

"Don't blame her," he said. "She's always been a little close-minded."

Helen was glaring at him, but Afina took his hand, easily gaining his full attention. "But not you, Nikola. You would welcome the rebirth of our glorious reign over all the world."

"With all my heart."

"Are you serious?" interjected Helen. "_Reign_ _over_ _all_ _the_ _world__? _I don't think you really understand how things have changed since your day."

Nikola sighed. "You see, she's never supported me. She's never been able to grasp our potential - our _obligation_ - to really bring change to the world, to herald a new era of enlightenment."

"You do understand." Afina's approving smile was a balm on his soul. Finally, _finally_, someone who saw things as he did. It was all he'd ever really wanted. And to be honest, he didn't think it was too much to ask. "It's almost a pity," Afina continued, "That you won't be there to see it."

Before there was even time for the words to register, Afina grabbed him by the shirt and tossed him aside like a ragdoll.

He hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of him, and he lay there stunned a moment as he regained his breath. Behind him a scuffle between the two women ensued. By the time he regained his feet, Afina had Helen pinned against a column with her arm locked across Helen's throat.

Afina was feeding from her, mouth latched at Helen's wrist, while Helen struggled to free herself from the stronger vampire's hold.

"Delicious," Afina purred when she pulled away. "You'll never know what you were missing out on." She smiled at the defiant fury on Helen's face, then in a burst of motion threw her backwards through the newly opened doorway.

"What are you doing?" Nikola cried as Helen disappeared from sight.

Afina ignored him completely. "Sorry Helen, my dear, I don't have time to deal with a half-breed, lovely as you are."

"What did you do? Helen!" Nikola flew past Afina to the doorway, seeing at once the nature of the booby trap. He craned over the edge to see down into what looked like a very deep pit.

He could barely see the bottom, could only just make out a shadowy figure, still and unmoving. Then a faint groan echoed up to him out of the darkness. He was about to call down to her when a hand gripped his shoulder and spun him away from the edge of the trap.

"You're coming with me," Afina growled. "We have things to do, and I might become hungry along the way."

His mind raced. That pit looked too deep, even for a vampire to escape - which was probably the point. He needed Helen, but she would need his help first. And he had little to no chance against Afina on his own. He really only had one option: piss the vampire off.

"Sorry, you're just not my type. A little long in the tooth, if you get my meaning." He grinned insolently as the queen's eyes narrowed. "Then there's always the fact that you're nothing but a stuck-up, inbred bitch to consider."

If there was one thing he was good at, it was annoying powerful women.

Or anyone, really.

"Tell me, slave, just how unpleasant would you like the last moments of your life to be?"

"You're going to kill me anyway, may as well take the opportunity to let you know how tacky and overdone this whole Queen of the Damned routine is - we humans make fun of vampires now, use them for our entertainment. Popular culture is full of such portrayals; the superior race? Please. You're a joke."

With a wild growl of fury she grabbed him and wrenched him towards her, razor teeth plunging into the base of his neck.

Some part of his mind not overcome by the instinctual fear and panic experienced by all prey species when being, well, preyed upon, thought that it was actually kind of ironic. He'd spent his entire vampire life longing for the return of the vampires of old... And as soon as he met one she decided to eat him.

One moment he was feeling the blood draining from his body, the next he was being flung away. He lay prone on the floor, rather surprised to still be breathing.

There were footsteps, and then Afina was standing over him.

"You were wrong, you know," she said, delicately wiping a line of his blood from her chin. "I'm not going to kill you, Nikola. Leaving you to die here, slowly, alone - imagining your growing pain and despair - will be so much more satisfying."

Then she was gone.

Nikola felt some small satisfaction at having called it correctly. She'd looked like the 'leave you to die' type. But the satisfaction was short-lived.

Somehow, he had managed to meet a vampire he hated even more than those little trust-fund punks. But where they had been know-nothing infants, of course, this was a woman, a _queen_, who should damn well know better. She should have _been_ better.

It was a cruel fact of his existence that everyone disappointed him sooner or later.

Even Helen - the triumph of saving her from death had been soured somewhat by her complaints at his method. Really, who wouldn't want to be a vampire? Just because every other example of the species they'd met of late turned out to be somewhat of a let-down...

He would never understand that woman.

All in all it had been a really bad day.

And now he had to assess the situation, figure out how to rescue Helen, and then let her rescue _him_ from that homicidal bitch before she sealed them both down here forever.

He felt gingerly at the wound in his neck. Afina had drunk deeply but avoided the jugular or anything else terribly vital. He knew this because he was still conscious. It would have been a swift death, otherwise.

She'd really meant the whole long, slow death thing, then.

He sat up slowly, a little light-headed from blood loss. His first thought was to call out to Helen, but if she could hear him, then Afina potentially could as well, wherever she'd got to, and he didn't want to draw her attention back here just now.

There was the abandoned backpack lying over on the other side of the room, however. And there were several metal things in it, making it easy to draw the pack across the floor right into his grasp.

He quickly assessed the contents, and grabbed an energy bar and the water canteen. He stuffed the former down in two hasty mouthfuls, and followed it with a few swigs of water. He wouldn't be much good if he couldn't stand up without fainting.

It occurred to him then that the stunner would have been particularly useful about now - but he'd sort of very decidedly trashed it in the process of saving Helen's life. Even if he had time to reassemble the thing, the power cell was depleted.

But there was one or two other things in the pack that would be of use - one of them being a grappeling hook.

The food had helped a little, and he levered himself up and made it over to the edge of the pit and looked down. "Helen!" he hissed.

He could just make her out, her face upturned in the scant light that reached down that far.

"Nikola! Are you all right?"

"Sorry, no time to chat. Here!" He tossed the backpack into the void. "Hurry up and get out of there," he told her. "She's gone somewhere, and she's our only way out. I'm going to follow her."

"Nikola, wait!" she called after him, but there really wasn't time to argue about it, and he started down the passageway after the vampire queen. Helen would just have to catch up with him - he really didn't want to lose Afina in what could be a maze of tunnels for all he knew.

Thankfully, once he started down the passageway where Afina had disappeared he didn't have any trouble finding his way. Eventually he saw another chamber opening up ahead, and he approached the entrance warily. What he saw within was daunting, to say the least.

_Afina __and __her __court__..._

All of them, ready to wake up and answer only to her. He suddenly felt very small.

He didn't do small.

He crept closer, trying to get a look at the controls Afina was accessing.

"I know you're there," she said without turning around. "I can smell your desperation."

She moved with breathtaking speed, standing right before him in a split second.

"So I may have had a change of heart," he said, as she stared him down. "I know a winning side when I see one. You might want to keep me around. I'm something of a - no, that's underselling myself. I _am_ a genius. And you will need help re-assimilating into the modern world - a guide, if you will."

"You really think you could be of any value to me? You're nothing but a meal, and a scrawny one at that."

Her hand was at his throat then, closing tightly. He struggled for air.

"Perhaps I'll have you thrown down in that pit with your lover - then she'll have something to snack on until I find some use for her."

"I am _not_ his lover." Suddenly the queen was thrown aside. Helen had arrived.

He reached instinctively for her as she turned to him, their eyes scanning each other for reassurance.

It burst out of him. "Hi!"

"Hi," she returned breathlessly.

She looked incredible. Moments like this really did get the blood flowing. But beyond them, Afina was regrouping.

"Hold her off," he directed Helen. "I need to reverse the process."

Generally, to say Helen was formidable was an understatement and that was as a mere human - right now she was magnificent. The vampire in her revealed, she was a goddess, eyes gleaming darkly, claws unsheathed, vicious as she was beautiful. Like she had walked right out of his fondest dreams, come to life to kick the crap out of a giant pain in the ass.

In reality, Afina had thousands of years of experience on Helen, and while Helen was certainly fearsome and managed to hold her own long enough for him to work the controls and reset the stasis settings, by the time he was done the tables were turning. He scanned quickly for a weapon, with both his eyes and his powers - finding a decorative strut at the base of the control dais had eroded enough over time to be detached with a sharp tug.

He spun on his heel and hurled it with all the force of his magnetic abilities behind it, impaling Afina quite effectively and staggering her for a moment. Helen was able to break away - but not for long. Afina unflinchingly pulled the metal rod from her chest. She turned her head, her focus coming to rest on him.

And he realised they now had an _armed_ murderous vampire on their hands.

Afina advanced on him. "You should not have done that, little boy."

"Wait don't harm him!" Helen cried. "We have something you want."

It was a good thing Helen had a back-up plan.

.

.

They made it out of the tunnel with moments to spare, the vast implosion making the hillside tremble as they ducked for cover.

And as the dust settled there was nothing to do but laugh in relief.

"Cut it a little closer than I would have liked," Helen said. But her eyes were alight, as energised as he.

It was no doubt some perverse aspect of their natures that enabled them to enjoy such a narrow escape, but it had always been this way for them. He remembered back in the day James in particular being driven mad at their giddy exhilaration and enthusiasm after some dangerous caper or other.

"You were the one who gave her the map. How did you know she was telling the truth about the door?"

"I didn't. But I had to stop her either way."

"Well thanks for consulting me about the suicide pact."

"Sorry."

He sighed. "It's a shame we lost it, you know, we'd only downloaded a fraction of that database."

"Small price to pay."

"Yes, well we mustn't forget our most important achievement of the day. Your resurrection."

She stiffened slightly. "Oh yes. That."

"You're welcome."

"Did I not thank you for saving my life?"

"Well, you were a little distracted. Plus you sort of saved mine, too. And then endangered it again... Call it even?"

"All right." Her smile was warm as she reached out and touched his arm fondly. But her expression changed rapidly, the smile freezing on her face.

"What's the matter?"

"You're bleeding," she said. She looked quickly away.

Oh, the days of being a newly born vampire. He would do whatever he could to shepherd her through this trying time. "It'll be all right, Helen," he told her, taking her hand.

"Yes, I know," she responded quickly, shaking off his hand and getting to her feet. "It will be all right. We'll return directly to the Sanctuary, and you'll use the de-vamper on me, and this whole experience will be done with."

"Oh," he said.

_Oh_.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

_Endnotes: Oh, Nikola... He's just a sucker for a pretty face and the promise of world domination. (I think if Helen ever offered to take over the world with him, he'd propose on the spot.) Thank you for reading! Reviews are appreciated!_

_Next chapter - Helen gets the hang of the vampire thing, Nikola likes it a little too much, there's more bickering, and a deal is struck._


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: And here I thought this chapter would be shorter than the last one. Sigh...** From here on I want to give a general warning for erm, well blood, basically.** It's a story involving vampires, so yeah, things happen. ;)_

_Thanks so much to those who have been reviewing!_

* * *

><p><strong>Queen for a Day<strong>

**part three**

**…**

They'd covered most of the distance on foot from the cavern's entrance back to the place they'd left their rather questionable vehicle. They'd acquired the old truck, at a fairly exorbitant rate no less, from the manager at the small airstrip where their plane was waiting - still a good two hour's distance away by road. All told, it would be some time yet before they even got back to the plane, let alone home to the Sanctuary.

And Helen wasn't going to put up with the accusing silence any longer.

"You're quiet," she began diplomatically, as they carefully picked their way over the rocky terrain. "Disappointed?"

He huffed and delivered a sharp reply. "In myself, perhaps. That I could lead myself to believe you might actually be capable of seeing beyond the limitations and prejudice of your existence to date and dare to accept the challenge of true greatness."

Oh, so it was going to be like that, was it?

But the damn had broken, and Nikola had well and truly given up on the silent routine.

"You seriously intend to pass this opportunity by completely? So much for your dedication to knowledge and science - where is your spirit of inquiry now? I just can't understand you, Helen."

"Hardly surprising - that would require thinking of someone other than yourself for once."

"Oh very nice."

"I'm sorry to have dashed your hopes in this."

"Yes, you seem broken up about it."

They continued to bicker as they hiked, their voices the only sound in the barren environment.

"Can you really not understand my position?" she demanded. "Dig deep."

"Yes, yes, you think your status as Sanctuary head honcho may be threatened by becoming a member of the greatest abnormal species ever known. You're Helen Magnus - what are they going to do about it? Put you out to pasture? Lock you away? Please."

"I'm Helen Magnus, yes, the person I have been for one hundred and sixty years. And today I was taken and turned into something else against my will. Surely _that_ is something you will agree is unacceptable."

"I was diminished by my recent transformation. My gift was taken from me - you were given one. The source blood changed you once, and now it has done it again, only this time you refuse its gift?"

"It's not up for discussion." She sighed, shaking her head. "Perhaps we should go back to being quiet."

He made a rude noise at that. "Fine. I suppose you need the time to come up with some other increasingly flimsy excuse other than your own prejudice and narrow-mindedness."

"If you're not happy with my decision, you don't have to accompany me home. I'm sure Henry will be able to figure out how to power the devamper on his own."

There was a notable pause.

"Actually, about the devamper..."

"What?" At his continued silence her eyes narrowed. "_What__?_"

"Well I got to thinking, you know, if I ever managed to _re__-_vamp myself, I wouldn't want a weapon that could potentially violate my very being _again_ just lying around where anyone could get their hands on it and use it against me."

"It was hardly just lying around, it was safe, in the Sanctuary."

"Until you decide to pass judgement once again on all the world and sundry and I end up paying for it? No thank you. And frankly, considering your current attitude on the matter, it was clearly the right move. While I admire your indomitable nature, Helen, it can be a total pain in the ass."

"Just tell me what happened to the devamper."

"I took it. What? It wasn't stealing, the damn thing is mine. So yes, I took back my property. And dismantled it. And hid the pieces. On a different continent. So, you know, sweeping us both back to the Sanctuary may not do us much good. You'll just have to let me do the sweeping."

They had finally reached the truck, where they had left it some way off the road where it wouldn't be easily seen. Nikola went to open the door but Helen caught his shoulder and turned him to face her.

"Where?" she demanded.

"Of course, I'll be happy to take you there. Except for one thing."

At some point in leaving the tomb behind, his face had become closed off to her. She was becoming too annoyed at his games to regret the loss.

"Nikola."

"Quid pro quo, Helen. You show me yours, I'll show you mine."

"You want my blood."

He threw up his hands. "Of course I want it. I want my life back! And once you give it to me, I'll give you back yours."

"After all this, all you can think about is yourself, naturally. You are unbelievable."

"Like all you can think about is your precious Sanctuary! I saved your life, in case you didn't happen to notice that part. Forgoing my own desperate, truest desire - no, _need_. I _need_ to reclaim my heritage, be my best self if you see what I mean, and I didn't even think about that, too busy watching you expire. So you're very welcome, I'm sure, but now I want this one little thing and if you don't give it to me then you can just stay a vampire and lose your damn Sanctuary and all your little friends, see if I care."

She saw red. Quite literally.

The violence exploded out of her without warning. Her hand was at his throat before she knew it, pinning him to the side of the vehicle. "I could just make you tell me where it is." Her voice came in an inhuman growl.

"Try," he gasped through his compromised airway, "The devamper is my one bargaining chip. Try and get me to give it up. You're losing it. You can't control yourself, oh I know that feeling. You'll snap and kill me before you get anything out of me and then where will you be?"

"Then why don't I just kill you and be done with it?" Her hand tightened reflexively.

"Go ahead," he choked out, "The bitch Queen Mother back there would be so proud."

At the mention of her psychotic sire, Helen came back to herself, realising what she was doing. The feel of those teeth, cruel and shark-like, receding into her gums was something she would never get used to - and wouldn't have to if she had anything to do with it. She released her hold on him at once.

"Nikola!" She gaped at him as he slumped back against the side door, gingerly rubbing his throat. "Are you all right?"

"Jealous," he said in a slightly raspy voice. "And also, oddly turned on. You make a magnificent vampire, I always knew you would."

That took her aback. "Kinky bastard. I almost killed you."

"Oh Helen, you have no idea. When are we going to do it?"

"What? I'm not -"

"Not _it_, you with the one-track mind. The far more important 'it'; revamping me of course. And devamping you, sure, but important things first."

She shook her head. "I can't simply -"

"But it is simple. A life for a life. Your immanent mortality, back there in the tomb, for mine, here and now."

"The fact that you see this situation in such reductive terms, with no mind to the reality of what we dealt with today, the consequences - I don't know, Nikola. I really don't."

"To hell with that. You'll get your life back, and so will I." He grabbed her hands and held them tight. "I've not a humble bone in my body, you know this. I would never beg - not for anything but this. Please, Helen. Please."

Her eyes fell shut and she exhaled heavily. "How can you stand this? Feeling like this. It's - I feel like I'm losing myself. It's terrifying."

"You learn to love it."

She opened her eyes again, gaze locking fiercely onto his. "No, I won't."

"Then...?" His voice dared to hope.

What she was certain of was that she could not, _would__not__,_ remain a vampire. And if the simplest way to achieve that was to accept the vampire Nikola Tesla, loose on the world once more - well, he hadn't managed world domination on his own yet.

The consequences would be on her head. But then, that was something she was well-accustomed to by now.

"All you need is my blood. You can do the rest, I assume?"

"Yes - yes!" he threw his arms around her and hugged her with fervent joy.

"And you'll owe me, forever," she added, muffled against his chest. "Nikola?"

"Hush. Let me enjoy this."

But that wasn't exactly the problem. She could hear his heart as it beat in his chest. She was inhaling the scent of drying blood, sense it hot and close, throbbing through his veins. "Nikola," she said more urgently, face craning towards his neck like it had a will of its own.

About the time she was nuzzling aside his collar, drawn inexorably to the bite wound at the base of his throat, he realised what was going on. He thrust her away from him.

"Behave, Helen. You'll never forgive yourself if you make a meal of your dear old friend."

She blinked. "Sorry. I'm just -"

"Hungry. Well, control yourself. We'll get you something to eat once we're back in civilisation."

She cleared her throat, and turned away. Yes, it was definitely time to be going.

She took the driver's seat. It would give her something to do with her hands, and her attention, and besides, the old truck was a beast of a thing and she wouldn't trust Nikola behind the wheel at the best of times.

"Haven't you forgotten something?" she said once they'd been on the road for a short time. He gave a questioning look and she supplied, "Where are we going?"

He covered her hand on the gear-shift with his. "To a place where all our dreams will come true. To the future, hand in hand, to carve our names in the eternal -"

"Nikola."

The hand withdrew and he waved it lazily. "Or, if you want to be literal about it, Johannesburg."

"Oh. Well, that's handy."

"Dumb luck, really, I could just as easily have hid the thing at my safe house in Hoi An, for example, in which case we'd have a thirty or so hour flight on our hands. As it is, we'll do it in four."

She spared him a sidelong look. "Where else do you hide away from the world, Nikola?"

"Oh, here and there. You have your sanctuaries, Helen, I have mine."

They hit a rather impressive pothole then, jostling them both about in their seats.

"Put your seatbelt on," Helen told him.

He rolled his eyes, but complied. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him wincing as the seatbelt pulled across his shoulder, his hand easing it away from the curve of his neck.

"So. She bit you." They had yet to address this particular elephant in the room - or car, as the case may be. "Are you all right? How do you feel?"

"Like I've had a very bad day." He grinned wanly at her. "And a very good one."

"Back to practical concerns - have you lost much blood, and do you need treatment? We have water and perhaps a protein bar or two here somewhere, but the first-aid kit was, well, blown up."

He gestured to the wound, mostly hidden under his collar. She didn't look, feeling it was important she not see the thing again. "It's not bad," he said. "I assume I haven't caught anything too horrible from her. If I have, you know how to save my life, don't you? Anyway, I'm hardly the chief concern - how are you feeling?"

Very much on edge. Very hungry. But determined.

She managed half a smile. "When I was pregnant I had some very odd cravings. There was about a month or so there where I had the strongest urge to eat soap. And once, back in the seventies, deep within the jungle on a small island in Micronesia, I encountered an abnormal parasite that makes you crave sunlight. The creature spends most of its lifecycle inhabiting dense, rotting leaf matter on the forest floor. But it needs the sun to spawn. Rather harmless all told, unless you count the sunburn."

"You 'encountered' this parasite, or were infested by it?"

A real smile crossed her face. "I don't know who was more scandalised, James or the elderly minister's wife, when they discovered me sunbathing on the front lawn of the church mission."

"Naked?"

"Stark naked. At least the Sunday School students were entertained."

"I'll bet they were. I would have loved to hear James tell this story."

"In his version, he _didn__'__t_ pick up the same bug not two days later in the course of our investigation. But you see my point - a craving is just that. It can be managed."

"It's a shame we don't have a rich, dark burgundy lying around."

She frowned. "Does the wine really help with the cravings? I always thought -"

"Oh no, the wine is for me. I don't know what we're going to do about you."

She rolled her eyes. "We're going to get back to the plane and get out of here."

"Couldn't be more simple."

There was something in his tone. "What?"

"You're optimistic; I'm sure it's a good thing."

"You think I'm kidding myself."

"You don't know yourself," he countered. "Accept you might have to bow to greater wisdom in this."

"What are you saying?"

"That you need blood. Soon." The 'or else' went unspoken.

Her hands were tight on the wheel, her body radiating tension. She wanted to deny it, even knowing he was right. But no, she had to think of it as a practical matter. Anything could be borne in the short term.

She let out a breath. "Fine. I suppose it would be wise to acquire some animal blood before the flight."

"Terror at forty thousand feet - yes, perhaps we should try to avoid it."

She ignored the look on his face, smug at having gotten his own way.

She allowed herself to be drawn into past memories instead, remembering only too well the time following the source blood, and the rather gruesome experiments with their own blood and that of various animals carried out in their attempts to help Nikola. They'd found that animal blood could sustain him, but not particularly well; he struggled with cravings, which liberal applications of various drugs did little to suppress. But he had always maintained a grim determination not to become a bloodthirsty monster.

Fascinated as she was by his condition, she had also admired him greatly for his resolution at the time.

Experiencing now only a little of what he had gone through in those days and weeks, she admired him all the more.

Of course he'd held a rather different attitude to all things Sanguine Vampiris back then, at the start. He would have been horrified to see his affliction passed on to another, especially one of his friends. Not that Nikola was so very much changed since that time. The young man had always had a certain air about him of arrogance and superiority, born of too often being the most intelligent and least appreciated of his peers. Nikola had needed the Five very badly. Almost as much as she had.

The other three, even Nigel, who had to face the class divide, would have got along perfectly well on their own in their careers and society. She and Nikola both had been all too eager for acceptance they had not previously known - the respect and stimulation of like minds and equals they had found within their little group.

Feeling rather fond and nostalgic, and slightly less combative than she had been, Helen looked over at her companion, only to see he was asleep. She wasn't sure when he'd dozed off, although now she realised he had been awfully quiet for quite a while. And this time he didn't have the excuse of sulking.

His head pillowed on a bent arm, propped against the door, she was impressed he managed it at all - it wasn't exactly a smooth trip between the vehicle's terrible suspension and the rough surface of the road. But she didn't remember him napping much at all on the long flight into Tanzania, too engrossed by the information they'd managed to pull from the map's database.

She left him to it, focusing back on the remainder of the drive. They were close now; another half-hour brought them back within the bounds of the settlement where the airstrip was located.

They'd passed through a number of small villages to get here, and this one was only slightly bigger and more central by comparison. There was at least something of a street market, though, where people bartered and haggled for an eclectic range of food and goods. Helen brought the lumbering vehicle to a halt behind a flat-bed lorry that was blocking most of the dusty street and didn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

"Here we are then," she said.

Nikola still didn't stir, although the street was hardly quiet, with people and animals milling about the place and the odd vehicle attempting to manoeuvre amidst the slower-moving foot-traffic.

"Nikola?" She jostled his shoulder lightly, and only then did his eyes open. He was slow to wake, blinking at her hazily for a few seconds before finally straightening.

"Oh," he said. "So we're... here."

"Were you asleep, or did you pass out?" she said. He frowned, pressing his fingers to his eyes. "The fact that you don't know is perhaps not a good sign. Any nausea, blurred vision?" She took his wrist to take his pulse but he shook off her hold.

"I'm fine, a little tired."

"You're still recovering from the blood loss. Well, we'll be able to take care of that easily enough. Just let me know if you start to feel worse - try not to faint before we find you something to eat, will you?"

"Sure. I'll see if I can hold off on the vapours if you can try not to snap and bite someone," he offered.

"Nice to have a goal," she muttered dryly as they prepared to leave the truck.

Fortunately in amongst a few other necessities like water, she'd left a stash of local currency in the truck in case of emergency. At least she wouldn't have to barter with her watch or earrings. Not that anyone would be too eager for the trade - anyone who gave the pair of them a second look gave them a wide berth. Not so much because they stood out as white people, but because of their bruised, battered, blood-covered appearance. They were a disturbing sight, to be sure.

Still, they managed well enough to start with, procuring some bottled fruit juice for Nikola - after double-checking to be sure they were sealed properly, he drained the first quickly before starting on the second. The rest of their funds would no doubt go to vastly over-pay the butcher not to ask any questions when they asked for animal blood. Even in as exotic a locale as this, such a request would raise eyebrows.

After their first quick survey of the market, however, it was apparent that while there were a few vendors selling cooked or dried meat, short of purchasing a live goat or rooster there was no source of _fresh_ meat, and by association animal blood, to be found.

"Well, there's no reason why we _can__'__t_ buy you a goat. I've had goat, it's not that bad - better than cow, anyway," Nikola said once they were stopped, deciding what to do next.

Helen held up a hand. "Please, if I manage to escape this experience without becoming a vegan for life, we'll be doing very well."

"I suppose tearing out some poor creature's throat might be asking a bit much of you on your first day - could probably pay someone to slaughter it for you, though. We can ask around - someone here will speak English, if your Swahili isn't up to scratch. If they think we're too strange, we'll just throw money at them until they stop."

She didn't respond when he finished speaking; at some point she'd actually stopped listening altogether.

"Helen?" he prompted.

"I just... need a moment," she ground out.

There'd been a bit too much discussion of blood. And tearing of throats. And all she could think about - _all_ she could think about - was Afina drinking from her arm, her blood on the queen's smiling lips. It had healed almost instantly, but there was blood still all over both of them. Her shirt had been soaked in it; Nikola had a raw, seeping wound not very well hidden beneath his collar.

She realised she could smell it.

She felt her eyes changing and she pressed her eyelids tightly shut against the transformation. She tried to will it away, but the urge driving her to this point had grown too strong.

It was Nikola who saved her then, from what could have been an extremely indiscreet, potentially violent, display in amongst so many innocent bystanders.

She hadn't even noticed her feet moving, hadn't noticed him grabbing her by the arm and tugging her hastily away from the very public place, and down a small alley between two rickety constructions. It only afforded a modicum of privacy, but was at least unoccupied apart from piled refuse and a few stray cats.

"You're too far gone to fight it," he advised, his voice rather calm considering the circumstances. "You've had a trying day, lost quite a bit of your own blood without replacing any of it. I know you don't want it, but it's a matter of need, now. And unless you want to lose control with the next passerby, you'll simply have to -"

"No." Her voice came deep and rough between elongated teeth.

"Bite me."

"I can't - no, I - I have no idea what I'm doing. I'll kill you." She still had her eyes determinedly closed, as if not seeing her monstrous self reflected in his gaze would be of any use to her now.

"Look at me, Helen." Reluctantly, she did, and found him pulling aside his shirt collar. "Here. She didn't hit any major vessels; bite me here."

She was horrified at the thought. But at the same time, had to concede that it sounded like a very good idea. The best she'd every heard, in fact.

"You're a practical woman Helen, this is a practical solution. Besides, if I'm going to have someone's teethmarks in me, I'd much rather they were yours."

She swallowed thickly. "I thought the idea was not to tear some poor creature's throat out."

"Come on. It's me or the goat. Or maybe you could catch one of those mangy cats. Personally, and not to sound too conceited here, but I think I'll taste better."

As soon as she made the decision it was obvious to both of them. This was because she suddenly had him pinned to the crumbling wall behind him with his head wrenched to one side in a burst of vampire speed.

The wound was right under her nose, tacky and glistening with coagulated blood and sweat. The physician in her noted that it needed to be cleaned and dressed, but did not pose any particular danger as it was. The human part of her was repulsed by what the vampire side wanted to do.

She did it anyway, lowering her head and licking the wound.

The bolt of desire was instantaneous and intense, telling her that this was it, exactly what she needed. It urged her onward, to take what she needed from the warm body before her.

Helen Magnus, the truest part of her that could never be lost to this madness, rolled her eyes and met Nikola's gaze for a moment. "You just had to turn me into a vampire, didn't you?"

Then she bit him.

It was more than feeding, more than hunger.

It was lust, of the most darkly primal kind, something wild and desperate in her taking over as the blood welled up in her mouth and she swallowed, and swallowed. Devouring him. It felt so very right as she bit down deeper into his flesh, increasing the flow of blood that overwhelmed her senses utterly, sweeter and richer than anything she'd ever experienced.

She felt him trying to move and she tightened her hold on him; she wasn't done with him yet. She needed more. She continued to drink. But then she realised he was only lifting his arm up to rest between her shoulders. He stroked her hair lightly, and the gentleness of the gesture tipped her back from the edge of that dark place, allowing her enough control to wrench herself away.

The blood was running from her lips and from the fresh wound on his neck, but he only smiled weakly at her.

"There," he said. "There now, you see? That wasn't so bad."

She still held him propped between her body and the wall behind him, and slowly she lowered her face to the curve of his neck again, licking carefully at the still seeping blood, resisting the urge to take more, to bite again.

After a long moment she replaced her mouth with the palm of her hand, pressing down against the wound to help stem the bleeding. Then she withdrew but only far enough to press her mouth urgently to his in a heated kiss. It was unexpected and he gasped, her tongue delving deeply between his parted lips, wanting to taste more of him in any way she could and knowing that he was tasting his own blood in return as her tongue stroked his. With a sound of barely-restrained need he began kissing her back, arms tightening around her as he pulled her more firmly against him. It was wildly, intensely passionate, their blood-stained kiss almost as heady as the more violent embrace that had preceded it.

"Helen," he uttered against her lips before capturing them again, hungry for more, and she moaned in response, leaning her body more fully against his.

It might never have ended, but a nearby sound startled them both. Helen whipped round to see a cat slinking away into the shadows. Slowly, she raised a hand and swiped at her mouth as she turned back to look at him.

Their eyes met and they stared at one another.

"Bloody hell," she breathed.

.

.

"I'll be delayed a day or two in returning home. I assume you've got a handle on things there?"

With the plane's satellite connection the line was quite decent, and she could hear every bit of doubt in Will's voice even from so many thousands of miles away.

"Uh, sure, yeah, everything's fine here. Are you sure everything's okay _there_?" he said.

"Oh yes, nothing to worry about. Nikola and I made quite an interesting discovery, tell you all about it once we're back. We just need a little time to tie up some loose ends."

"You're _sure_ about that. Because it's -"

"Tesla, I know. You worry. But there's really no need. I'll see you in a few days."

She cut off the call before Will could say anything more.

"He thinks you're shacking up with me and can't bear to leave," Nikola volunteered as she settled back in her seat on the other side of the cabin.

"He really doesn't."

"Of course if he did, he wouldn't be far wrong."

She pressed a hand over her eyes. Vampires didn't get headaches, she assumed, but she felt as if she should have one. At least the inconvenient craving for blood had subsided. At least there was that.

He was still talking. "I'm sensing a little tension. I know it's awkward, what happened between us, but -"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Which part? The part where you bit me and drank my blood, or the part where you kissed me?"

Her hand dropped to the seat beside her. "I absolutely do not want to talk about it."

He sighed. "Well this is going to be a long flight."

She definitely agreed with him there.

"Really, not tense or awkward at all," he continued. But then he began to grin. "Oh, but you know what will help? The wine selection stashed in the galley."

"That you insisted we bring along."

"And won't you be glad of it? All the pleasure of a fine drop, none of the consequences. Glorious."

"Actually I wouldn't mind getting blitzed about now," she muttered dourly, then raised her voice. "And you shouldn't be drinking, you're about to go into hypovolemic shock at any moment."

But once they were in the air and Nikola had poured for them both, and she relaxed back into the comfortable seat, she began to see the appeal.

And the flight actually turned out to be not as trying as anticipated.

Nikola spoke idly about the wine, or his place they were headed for in Johannesburg, and managed to talk her into finishing the story about James and the sun-loving parasite. He was perfectly companionable, and didn't mention vampires or their little encounter at the village again, not once.

It was, of course, highly suspicious.

In no way did she believe he was just going to let it drop.

Not least because the topic was never far from her mind, either. In fact, it was very difficult to think about anything else.

* * *

><p><strong>…<strong>

_Endnotes: Oh Helen... just you wait and see. (Ugh, I angsted so much over that vampy-bloodlust-kissing scene, did it come out okay? Reviews would be appreciated!)_

_Next chapter - Nikola's lair, where both devamping and revamping will occur, but possibly not in that order._


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: SHORT CHAPTERS WHAT ARE THOSE. Okay so this chapter is legit 7000 words of Helen and Nikola bickering. I don't know, is that interesting? Lol I hope so. Oh, and I still don't know how the whole vamping process works. Glossed over that a bit, sorry._

* * *

><p><strong>Queen for a Day<strong>

**part four**

**...**

"I should have known Johannesburg would be one of your haunts." Helen said, turning to him as the car manoeuvred through the streets. "Lightning capital of the world, isn't it?"

"A lot of places claim that title."

"You've probably a holiday home in all of them, on point of pride."

"Nearly. I gave Tampa a miss for some reason," he joked mildly back. He didn't mind the teasing, although the topic was a particularly sore spot. He turned his gaze out the window, watching the sprawling city pass by. "Yes, well, City of Lightning it may be, Man of Lightning, not so much any more."

He watched from the corner of his eye as Helen winced. "Touchy subject."

"I suppose it's too much to hope that being revamped will bring my former ability back." He shook his head. "It's a pity, you know, manipulating magnetic fields has proven useful a time or two, but nothing beats channelling a few thousand volts, you know?"

Helen cleared her throat. He realised they were receiving curious glances from their driver in the rear-view mirror, and that their topic of conversation wasn't the most discreet.

At least they'd each had a change of clothes on the plane, and being able to clean up a little in the typically small bathroom facilities had left the two of them looking less like they'd walked out of a low-budget horror movie.

He shrugged at Helen, who rolled her eyes in return. So much for the appearance of respectability.

Neither of them had been keen to drive themselves, the prospect of navigating the late-evening streets of Johannesburg seemed like too much to bother with after the day they'd had. Their driver had them at their destination soon enough and Nikola disembarked gladly, leaving Helen to deal with the tip.

He looked around, standing on the sidewalk. He hadn't been here much in the last few years. First the Cabal had been closing in on him, limiting his movements, and then he'd lost his vampirism and spent the last year or so busy trying to regain it.

The neighbourhood had changed rather a lot since he'd moved in sometime back in the eighties. It was more diverse now, of course, and there seemed to be a lot of young, happy people out on the streets for this time of night, which told him the area had probably become trendy at some point when he wasn't paying attention. Not that he cared about such things.

"Nikola," Helen said, as he lead the way from the front façade of the split-level building round into the alleyway.

"Yes?"

"You said you had a laboratory here. That it was a state of the art facility, with excellent security, and everything we would need to work with."

"Yes." He stepped up to the alcove with its heavy metal door, locating the discreetly placed keypad.

"At no point did you ever mention it was a day spa."

He punched in the code, blew into the hidden breath analyser, and said, "Oh that. That's not - we're on the top floor, it's nothing to do with me what occupies the other levels."

The door clicked open and he lead the way inside the private entrance, feeling Helen's eyes boring into the back of his head. She was still staring as they started up the stairs

"Okay, so, I may have -"

"Oh lord."

"You're so suspicious, it's perfectly innocent."

"This is Mexico all over again, isn't it? What on earth are you doing to your clients this time?"

"Providing a relaxing time-out from the stressful demands of everyday life, and also a few excellent cosmetic treatments in our clinic. Some time ago, you see, I was looking into using micro-lasers to manipulate genetic - well let's just say it didn't pan out, and then I had all these lasers lying about so I, you know, repurposed them. You need any micro-abrasion work done? Scar-removal?"

"Really." She did not sound impressed.

"Unsightly varicose veins to take care of? No? We do botox, too, because well, who doesn't?"

At this point she was muttering something he didn't quite catch.

"Not that you'll ever have need to avail yourself of such services," he added as they reached the third floor. "For thy eternal summer shall not fade," he quoted, smiling as she rolled her eyes.

She held up her hands. "Fine, all right, I believe you, it's all perfectly innocent - or at least, I don't want to know if it isn't. Just, no more Shakespeare, please."

He swung the door open dramatically for her. "Oh Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!"

She gave him a filthy look as she passed by into the unlit space, but stopped short just inside the doorway. "Good lord." Even with the lights off it was possible to get a sense of the expansive space - and what filled it.

"Well here we are." He moved past her over to where he remembered the room controls to be. "Make yourself at home," he tossed over his shoulder as he began switching on lights, air, and resetting the security system he'd disengaged at street level.

"You never were one for the minimalist approach, were you?" Helen said dryly, still taking it all in.

Most of the top floor of the long, squat building had been gutted, but for weight-bearing columns, and a few rooms down at the far end he kept for practicality's sake. He supposed it was a little on the cluttered side, but that was only because there was almost thirty years - off and on - of work represented here and well, he did have a lot of side interests.

"This way," he said, leading the way between banks of equipment and various machinery, over to the middle of the room where a group of work tables were set up, some of which even had some clear surface available.

Helen followed on his heels, stopping briefly to examine a hulking mass hidden under a drop-sheet. "Is that another _death __ray__?_" she demanded as she caught him up.

"You say that like it would be a bad thing. But no, that's no death ray."

"Thank goodness for small mercies, I suppose."

"It will be much better than a death ray," he added under his breath. In fact, he really needed to find time to return to that particular project.

"What?"

"Nothing."

He made a detour over to an industrial freezer set against the wall, digging through the contents until he found his supply of blood supplements - what had made up the majority of his diet as a vampire. He always kept a back-up stash in his various safe-houses, it was just common sense really.

He tossed one of the frozen bags of animal plasma to Helen, who caught it by reflex. "What's this?"

"Dinner. Fun as it was doing it the old fashioned way..." He trailed off, touching the base of his neck gingerly, where only hours ago she had literally sunk her teeth into him.

Helen looked dubiously from him to the ice block in her hand. "Just how long has this been here? Blood plasma can only be stored for a year or so, and this must be from before your transformation. Is it safe?"

"Helen, you're still thinking like a human. You're a vampire, my dear, for you just about everything is safe. Just throw the thing in the microwave, and bottoms up."

"I don't think I need this just yet. I did just..." she gestured uncomfortably.

"Feast on my succulent flesh?" He couldn't help but enjoy her discomfort - it was a treat he didn't often get from Helen Magnus. "With all this temptation within arms reach, better to be safe than sorry."

She sighed. "All right. I suppose you are the expert."

"The one and only."

"And where would one find a microwave in this sea of clutter?"

"I want to say... over there, behind the nuclear materials containment unit."

She started to weave her way between lab benches and various other obstacles over in the indicated direction. "I don't even want to know what you've been doing with nuclear materials, do I?"

He raised his voice to answer. "Oh, that was some time ago. I'm pretty sure there's nothing much in there now. Possibly some office supplies?"

She'd disappeared behind the unit in question, and there was a sound of things being shifted around - he hoped she wasn't making a mess over there - followed by a door opening and closing, and soft beeping. She'd located the microwave.

Soon she stuck her head round the containment unit to spy him across the room. "You are aware that this," she gestured grandiosely to encompass the entire space, "Is precisely why you will never have your own lab at my Sanctuary, right?"

"What?" He turned in a circle, surveying all that she was maligning. It was a perfectly decent workshop, with everything he needed right were he needed it. "That sort of rigid-minded sentiment is precisely why you will never get me on the payroll. Genius requires latitude; I wouldn't expect you to understand."

There was snort of derision in answer. Helen disappeared again and shortly there was another soft beep indicating her dinner was ready.

He turned to the business of starting to locate the various tools and equipment he would be needing for the upcoming task, gathering them all on a clear area of bench-top.

Helen joined him again shortly, warily eyeing the now-liquid bag, ready for consumption.

"You're not a toddler," he chided her. "Take your medicine, or no dessert for you, young lady."

"Oh, the complaints I used to hear about this stuff - you're really not one to talk."

He looked around hastily and pulled a wine bottle from amongst a selection of callipers stashed in a crate under the table. "Here. Takes away the taste."

She rolled her eyes at that. Then with a shrug, she toasted him with the plasma bag. "Oh well, bottoms up." She paused briefly to consider how to go about it, and then simply tore off the seal and emptied it into her mouth, swallowing until it was empty.

There was a rather singular expression on her face when she was done.

"Bravo," he grinned and nudged the bottle towards her, "Be a dear and open this, and we'll have a proper toast."

"Ugh," was all Helen said, still looking disgusted.

He stepped closer, grinning. "Well I know it's not as nice as your last meal. But if you'd like, we can end it the same way."

She opened her mouth, then closed it, apparently unsure how to respond. She toyed with the top of the wine bottle for a moment, looking thoughtful. "I did get a bit carried away, didn't I?"

"It happens," he conceded slowly, surprised she actually seemed willing to talk about it.

"It was... very compelling." Her eyes drifted to his neck, lingering where the mark of her bite still throbbed. She blinked and looked away. "World's away from this stuff," she indicated the empty bag lying on the bench between them. "If nothing else, Nikola, I can better appreciate the restraint you've always shown. Well, mostly shown."

"Oh," he was slightly taken aback by the compliment. "Well, thank you." It was always nice to be appreciated. However... "So about you kissing me."

"What about it?"

"Don't pretend you didn't enjoy it."

"I never said I didn't."

The conversation wasn't going to way he'd hoped. She was being far too casual about it. "So," he floundered, "You liked it."

"Well if that wasn't entirely clear at the time, I guess I shall have to do a better job of it next time."

"Next time?"

She just laughed and turned away, grabbing the wine bottle and moving it beyond his reach. "None of this," she said, "You've too much work to do and your alcohol tolerance is dismal these days."

She began inspecting the equipment he'd gathered together so far, previous topic abandoned.

So that was all he was getting from her? She was such an abominable tease. It was annoying how much he liked that about her.

He cleared his throat. "Yes, well. Now that we've had the tour, and some refreshments, we should really decide on how we are to proceed."

Her eyes fixed shrewdly on his. "You mean, who gets to go first."

"Well, I can't do everything at once. There's the devamper to reassemble, yes, but don't forget that turning me into a vampire won't be as simple as turning you was. Half-vampire blood is no substitute for the real thing, sadly. Thankfully we have all the benefit of my lifetime of work on the subject so this time it will only take me about five or six hours to achieve, as opposed to, you know, a century or so."

"There's a simple solution. I'll derive the treatment serum from my blood, while you work on the devamper."

He frowned. "Not sure how comfortable I am with that arrangement."

"You don't think I can do it?"

"No, I know you can. I'm not convinced you will."

"That makes two of us unsure, as I'm still not convinced I _should_. And can you blame me for my doubts? Not twenty-four hours ago you were very eager to take over the world with your new partner in crime."

"What can I say? She hooked me in with her big... ideas."

Helen's response was a disgusted sound. It made him grin.

"Not to worry," he assured her, "You quite effectively took care of your rival. I'm all yours."

"Lucky me."

It only took one look at her face then to conclude he might be pushing his luck a little too far. "Get to work?" he offered.

"Oh, yes please."

Helen quickly settled amongst the medical equipment. Most of it was right where he'd left it the last time he was here working on how to vamp someone.

Meanwhile, he was trying to remember where exactly he'd left various pieces of the devamper, currently hidden about the place. It was supposed to make it difficult for anyone to easily recreate the thing and potentially use it against him. Such measures weren't meant to work on _him_, however, and it was frustrating as he rummaged about here and there, feeling Helen silently judging his organisational skills from across the room.

Or not so silently.

"Would have been a lot simpler if you'd just left the thing at the Sanctuary," she said, mostly under her breath but still quite audible, as she bent over a laptop she'd dug up from somewhere.

"Can you blame me for my paranoia? My own creation turned against me - once was enough. It was rather traumatic."

"Mm-hm, ever heard of hubris?"

"Ever heard of... shut up?"

"Witty."

He sighed. She and her sarcasm were right. He was not being witty.

It had been a long day and he was only human, after all. So he shut his mouth, and kept it shut, and eventually he managed to pull together the most intricate components in order to make a start. He would be able to improvise the rest of it without too much trouble, but then there was the power source to worry about.

He found himself sort of sagging over as he finally propped himself on a stool. He hunched over the work table, bringing his hands up to rub his temples. It all sort of hit him at once.

He felt - not to put too fine a point on it - like crap. He was exhausted, his head ached, and his stomach was queasy. He assumed it was the after-effects of having not one but two vampiric vixens use him as a food source in one day. That he'd enjoyed the second instance didn't change the fact of the matter. He'd also been thrown around a bit, and wasn't quite so resilient to that kind of thing as he had once been.

Of course, he had far more important things to do than feel unwell, and wasn't about to mention it - Helen would likely make a fuss and insist he lie down or something equally absurd.

And after all, it was fitting, really.

As a vampire, any physical discomfort was fleeting, any pain easy enough to tolerate. If his last hours as a mortal man were spent feeling utterly miserable, it was only an apt representation of the human condition he was so eager to leave behind. It was almost poetic.

So he was quite determined to ignore his natural instinct - which was telling him to go to bed with, perhaps, a cold compress over his eyes - and instead press on. Especially since Helen clearly had no intentions of doing otherwise. He lifted his head to watch her move around the work area she'd claimed as her own, off in her own little world of science. He doubted she even realised it was the middle of the night.

He realised she was about to collect the sample - _the_ sample, the source of new vampire DNA he'd been desperate to find since his own had been stripped from him so cruelly.

Not bothering with a syringe and vial, Helen merely took up a scalpel and sliced open a short gash on her forearm. He watched her catch the dripping blood in a beaker, then stare with avid curiosity as the cut on her arm closed up and vanished as if it had never been there.

"Huh." The quiet sound reached his ears easily in the quiet room.

He didn't blame her for her fascination. As he kept trying to tell her, being a vampire was _cool_.

He was just deciding whether to say something or let the moment stand on its own, when Helen spoke up.

"Nikola?" she said without looking away from what she was doing.

He straightened. "Yes, Helen?"

"Stop watching me, and get back to work."

"Yes, Helen."

He did get back to work, but it was boring. He'd already designed and built the devamper once, putting it together again was hardly a stimulating activity. Still, he plodded away at it, as per their arrangement.

And the next time he looked over, he saw she had stopped working and was... playing with her nails.

He didn't know why she had shifted form, possibly she was simply bored, too. But there she was, vamped out, examining the long, razor-sharp talons extending from her fingertips.

He remembered another such examination, long ago, only then _he_ had been the recipient of Helen's fascination. That was back when turning into a vampire had been a novelty, one Helen had poured over in the excitement of scientific inquiry. Now she seemed to consider it a mere inconvenience - or did she?

He watched her test the edge of a claw with a bit of paper, slicing clean through, and wondered if, perhaps, there was a chance...

"They make great back-scratchers," he said. Best to keep things light - when pushed, the only thing Helen ever did was push back.

She looked up, self-conscious at being caught, eyes glittering darkly in her altered form. "They also seriously impede fine motor function."

Her vampire voice did wicked things to him he thought it best not to mention. "Never mind, no one's asking you to perform invasive surgery just now."

"No, not just now. Thankfully, when the very sight of blood sends me right off the rails." She seemed annoyed now, and looked down, focusing on returning to her normal appearance.

"Oh, now don't put them away, I have an itch I can't quite reach. Come over here and I'll show you where."

As propositions went it was rather lazy and puerile, but for a moment she just looked at him, irritated yes, but also with another kind of heat in her gaze. He had no proof but he would swear on his life she was thinking about their kiss.

"Oh, shut up, Nikola," she said suddenly, and focused back on her task as if nothing had happened.

He didn't mind so much. He rather liked this, the two of them working side by side. It was just as familiar and comfortable as it had been working with her to decipher the Hollow Earth map. Like old times, but it had been many long years since they'd shared a laboratory so amicably. So many hours, days, weeks spent pouring over some project or other - they'd always worked well together, and it was nice to be reminded of that.

Of course they'd argued and flirted just as readily during the old days, too.

Only he'd never really hoped, back then, that something more might come of it. He'd never allowed himself the luxury of hoping, telling himself it would sting less that way. He'd been such a young fool back then, in so many ways. And perhaps he was an old fool now, or perhaps it was just the sleep-deprivation talking, but he had watched Helen die today, and now in her presence everything about their current situation filled him with hope.

At some point, lost in meandering, overly-romantic thoughts, his head came to be propped heavily on his hand. Then it was resting on his folded arm and he was just going to close his eyes for a minute...

He woke stiff and disoriented some hours later. Levering himself up off the lab table where he'd fallen asleep hunched over, he wiped a hand tiredly over his face. Had he been drooling? How attractive.

Quickly, he looked around for Helen. And found her sitting opposite him watching with an amused smile.

"When I was a vampire I used to stay up all night and look fabulous in the morning, too," he said, his voice raspy with sleep.

"I remember," came Helen's quick reply. "It used to drive me mad."

He grinned at that. "I remember," he echoed.

It was some hour of the morning - late or early he wasn't sure - with daylight visible through the few windows about the place not covered up for privacy's sake. He looked at her more closely. She hadn't slept, but what had she been up to in the meantime?

As if in answer, she pushed a paper bag towards him across the table. "Here." A strong smell of warm pastry came from it.

"You've been busy, I hope you managed to finish your homework before going running around procuring baked goods." As he spoke he pushed himself off the stool and made his way over to one of the large metal basin sinks set against the wall. He washed his hands and splashed water on his face, the cold water waking him up the rest of the way.

"Yes, I finished while you were snoring away over here," Helen replied. "Then I went out for a walk and found a bakery - and a cafe where they couldn't manage to make a decent cup of tea if their lives depended on it."

"Which they would, facing down a Helen Magnus deprived of her morning beverage."

"They only had teabags," she groused, as he joined her back at the table. She was delicately pulling apart a croissant in little pieces to pop in her mouth.

"The horror."

"Mm, you've no idea. Anyway, eat up, a last meal of sorts." She shrugged, elaborating, "As a human."

As he began to eat his share of breakfast, he began to notice that things in the immediate vicinity were somehow different. "Did you... _clean__?_"

She shifted self-consciously. "Well I don't like being idle at the best of times. And if I don't need to sleep..."

He waved a hand, noting his slightly buttery fingers with a hint of distaste. Delicious as the pastries were. "Oh, you can sleep, you just have to be in the mood - it's a good way to unwind. I found I appreciated it more when it wasn't a necessary evil as it is for mere mortals. Now, what were you saying about being done?"

"Yes, the treatment, it's finished. Your notes from the extraordinarily reckless and idiotic Mexico trials were useful, I didn't have any trouble replicating the process."

He jumped to his feet, all thought of a semi-civilised meal abandoned. "Is it weird I feel like it's Christmas morning? I don't care if it's weird, it's my childish glee and I'm going with it. Now, let's do this, shall we?"

"Ah, not just yet. First," she crossed her arms over her chest, looking grim and completely ruining his whole vibe, "I want to talk about Afina."

He spread his arms wide. "What, again? Darling, she meant nothing to me, I swear."

"Very funny. I'm still curious to know where you'd have stood if she hadn't turned on us. If she'd shown you those vampires in stasis and asked you to be a part of her plans? Isn't that what you've been trying to create on your own all this time?"

"Not like that," he admitted, sobering. And it should have been a more difficult truth to swallow - he should feel some conflict, some lingering loyalty for his fellow vampires. But he just kept seeing Afina overpowering Helen, threatening her life; snacking on him and tossing him aside like he was nothing; frankly he didn't give a damn. Good riddance. "No. That's not something I've ever wanted."

Helen cocked her head to the side, arch look turning into one of genuine curiosity. "Do you even know what it is you want?"

"I have always known. If realising the most lofty of my goals has remained beyond me, if instead I have settled for pursuing sub-par versions of the miracles I see in my head - well do you blame me? What choice do I have but to keep trying? Who would I be if I didn't?"

"A productive member of society?" she said.

"Oh, that's very nice. When was the last time you ushered in the freaking Age of Electricity?"

She shook her head. "We've gone a little off topic."

"Yes, and you're forgiven. Now, tell me what is so terrible about making me a vampire again."

"Nothing." She said it bluntly with a slight shrug. "The world could do without ever seeing another vampire again, probably, but for all that, there are far worse things I can imagine than you being a vampire again."

"Like remaining one yourself?"

"Like making an enemy of you," she countered unexpectedly. "Or finding out you've turned up dead somewhere. If I don't do this, you'll only keep trying, anyway, and goodness knows what trouble you'll get yourself into next. And, well, there's only one Nikola Tesla. You're quite irreplaceable."

"Well," he said, clearing his throat. "Good."

"You never know quite what to do with sincerity, do you?"

"From you? Chalk it up to lack of experience." He stood with a hand on his hip, the other drumming the tabletop with his fingertips. He was full of nervous energy, torn between wanting to get on with the revamping already, and wanting to find out exactly how far her goodwill towards him extended. Her face yielded nothing to his searching gaze, and he looked away. "At any rate, we have a deal on the table - since when do we get mired in moral dilemmas? Onward and upward, and all that."

"Yes about the deal - what if I turn you, and you suddenly realise the devamper is conveniently beyond repair?"

"Would I do something like that?"

"Oh yes."

"You're right, that does sound like something I would do." He grinned unabashedly, but she wasn't having any of it.

"Promise me you will uphold your end of the deal."

"But Helen, how is there ever to be anything real between us if you don't trust me?"

"I don't have to trust you; I _know_ you. Knowledge beats blind faith any day. You'll manipulate a situation for your own gain if you possibly can, but you're a man of your word, when it counts."

"Fine then, I swear. I'll even swear on something that matters - on the Five."

She held his gaze for a long moment. "All right. There's only one more issue to cover."

He barely restrained himself from groaning. Rolling his eyes and tapping his fingers more pointedly on the table would have to do. "What?"

"Well, how exactly do you intend to, you know, die?"

He didn't even blink. "I've got a really good idea about that."

"Of course you do."

"But we should probably administer the treatment first, or the dying part will be more permanent than either of us would like."

"No need. I already gave you the treatment."

The tapping of his fingers slowed, then stopped. "Pardon me?'

"A few hours ago, while you were asleep." He might have been gaping at her at this point. She just shrugged. "I always intended to help you transform, Nikola, but I did want to talk to you first. And I wanted to give the treatment adequate time to take effect before you went and shot yourself in the head or something." She reached across the table and turned his wrist over, smoothing her thumb up his forearm to a tiny red pinprick there he hadn't noticed before. "You barely stirred. Are you aware you mumble in your sleep?"

He covered her hand, still touching his arm, with his own. "I don't know what to say. It was a cruel trick, to keep me hanging like that, but at the same time I can't help loving you for it. You've always been quite ruthless, and I don't know why but I find it so hot."

Her eyes widened at his words. She didn't do all that well with sincerity, either. Or maybe it was the way he was stroking her arm. Either way, she pulled back from the contact.

Even the knowledge that all that stood between him and his imminent revamping was a quick death didn't stop him from moving quickly round the table to her side.

"I think you should know that - call it what you will, knowledge, blind faith, a true meeting of minds - but I trust you, Helen," he said. "More than anyone else on the planet. In fact, if it was anyone else on the planet I made this deal with, I would be checking and rechecking their results - it's my life in your hands, after all. With you, I don't even feel the need."

It wasn't entirely the truth. He did still kind of want to check.

Helen, who had always known him too well, said, "Liar. Go ahead and check all you want."

He didn't take his eyes off hers, stepping closer. "I'll gladly put my life in your hands. It's far more romantic this way, don't you think? Now here I am, at death's door. You know, only yesterday you were in my position - I believe you wanted me to hold your hand." He set his hand on the table near hers, not quite touching.

"The two situations are hardly comparable."

"True, and yet the outcome will be just as wonderful. We hope. Of course the treatment could fail, my resurrection off the schedule. A kiss for luck?"

She laughed. "Ah, but this is science, luck has no place here."

"You're so stingy," he admonished, inching closer still.

"And you are so obvious..." She trailed off, shaking her head, but she was smiling and he could tell she was considering it. There was a certain, unmistakable warmth in her eyes - and he knew this woman, he knew how cold she could be.

She was a vampire. She could throw him across the room if she liked. And yet when he took that final step and slid his hand behind her neck she did not react with violence. Instead, her lips parted in anticipation and she even leaned in to meet him. He kissed her gently, a simple kiss for luck as he had said. But then, well, good intentions and all that.

It was her fault, really, in a sudden surge she wrapped her hands behind his shoulders, plastering herself to him as her mouth opened eagerly against his. He was more than happy to respond, slanting his mouth more firmly across hers, kissing her hard and hungry, and he heard a moan as she welcomed his tongue in her mouth. A moan, or was it a low growl - he couldn't think to care, he was lost in her, in the soft steel of her body in his arms, the hot, insistent press of her lips on his.

He turned her, pressing her back into the table, but the weight of them as they pushed into it sent the table skidding backwards several inches, screeching across the floor. It startled them enough to stop. The kiss broken, they stared at each other for a moment. Helen's eyes were dark and hungry, and she tried to pull him back down to her, but with an effort he resisted.

Regaining some control, he acknowledged the truth - it just wasn't enough. He didn't want only this, and if that made him greedy, so be it. He wanted to join her, not as he was now, but as an equal. Once he was a vampire again they could kiss as much as she wanted - and more. Much more.

"Well," he said, shaking himself a little, "I feel luckier already."

"Do you now?" Her eyes cleared, and she didn't push for more, but neither did she back down. She lifted her hand and brushed her fingers through his hair. Whether she was tidying it or making more of a mess, he didn't know, though the hint of amusement playing at her lips as she looked at him suggest the latter.

"That was mostly for _your_ benefit, you know," he told her. "If this doesn't work you'd feel terrible about not granting my last request."

"So considerate." She let out a laugh and stepped out of arm's reach. "Just... go jump off a bridge or something, will you?"

He grinned before moving away from her, not needing to be told twice.

He crossed the room to the sink again. This time he pulled his sleeve down over his hand and stuck his entire arm under the faucet, drenching it up to his shoulder.

"What _are_ you doing?" Helen asked.

"Call it morbid curiosity," he said, leaving the sink and moving directly to the nearest electrical outlet. "But I have always wanted to know what this would be like. You know, without the benefit of my powers."

He ripped the plastic covering off, exposing the wires beneath. At this point, anyone else might have hesitated. But fortune favoured the bold, and Nikola Tesla had never had a problem with bold.

He thrust his hand into the socket.

.

.

He was a vampire again. Words couldn't describe it, like a yearning emptiness in his soul had been filled. He felt the rightness of it in his bones.

He had come roaring back to life, bursting with the vitality of triumphant rebirth, to find Helen crouched over him on the floor of his suddenly dim laboratory. The lights had gone out, only a little daylight entering through the few windows about the place that remained uncovered.

He didn't actually remember the electrocution, it was a blank, the only evidence of his passing being his still-smoking clothing, and the wary look on Helen's face as she hovered nearby. He might just as well have chosen a method of death that didn't short out the power, but well, that was in the past. Only his future concerned him now.

"Did you think electrocuting yourself might return your full abilities to you?" Helen said.

"Never crossed my mind."

Of _course_ the thought had crossed his mind.

Being a human magnet was tiresome, and he had certainly missed the literal aspect of being the Master of Electricity along with the vampirism. But he wasn't even going to test it now - he didn't want that disappointment to mar this otherwise triumphant moment.

He was back.

Oh, it felt good. It felt _so_ good to be complete again. He turned to Helen, wanting to - well, to do something. Hug her. Thank her. Maybe make out a little more. Definitely that last part.

But when he turned his full focus on her for the first time since waking up he realised he was seeing her as he never had before.

He had experienced it on some level with those idiotic, spoiled children, and even with the brain-dead monsters that had been his first attempts at recreating Sanguine Vampiris in a modern setting. He knew Afina and Helen had felt it, he'd seen the connection between them, had envied it deeply.

And now here they were, he and Helen, the last two vampires on Earth.

He stepped towards her. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"Recognition."

He shifted, rolling his shoulders in sheer enjoyment as the vampire came forth. And she felt it all right, the sight of him spurred her own change as if he had called it up out of her.

She looked shocked for a moment at her own reaction. Then she visibly shook herself, frowning as she forced herself to shift back. She looked up at him, human once more. "Stop that," she said.

He really didn't want to. Drawing closer, he reached up and drew the tip of one talon down the curve of her cheek. "We have all the time in the world, now, you and I. Shall we pick up where we left off before? We just need to find some sturdier surface than the lab bench, perhaps."

"Oh, Nikola," she sighed. "You're full of ideas, aren't you?"

"Always. And good ones, I like to think."

She laughed, apparently unmoved. "Except you're not getting off that easy. You've got what you wanted, now, go and finish my devamper."

"Seriously, Helen?" Unbelievable. He threw up his hands. "Come on, don't be a buzzkill. I'm a vampire, you're a vampire, this was clearly meant to be."

"Are you aware your hair is standing completely on end?" Helen said.

He put a hand self-consciously to his head. He'd always liked it when it did that, but apparently she didn't agree. He deflated at the thought. He didn't understand her - one minute she was all over him, the next...

"What are you going to do? Stand over me cracking a whip?" he said.

She tilted her head, pretending to think about it. "Tempting. Don't worry, I'll find something to keep myself busy. There is a spa downstairs, perhaps I'll go and have a massage."

Was she serious? He couldn't tell. "Oh yes, by all means, go and pamper yourself while I slave away on your behalf."

"Sounds like a plan. First," she tossed over her shoulder, as she retreated towards the exit, "Hadn't you better fix the power?"

Then she was gone.

What on earth was she doing? Where had she gone? He seriously doubted she was down in the day spa, making an appointment - but what if she was? He was dying of curiosity and also distracted by images of Helen, clad only in a sheet, being rubbed all over with oil.

And he was supposed to just sit here and be a good boy? He'd never particularly excelled at that. And he was all about being true to one's nature.

* * *

><p><strong>…<strong>

**Endnotes: I really wanted to get this story done before the premier but as that's in like three days (EEEE!) that won't happen lol. There is only one more part to come, or possibly one more part and an epilogue, though, so it will be done soon!**

**Next chapter - there are exactly two vampires on earth, Nikola calls it fate, Helen calls shenanigans.**


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